Winter isn’t coming – it’s here! And it brings reflection and a bunch of sweet bonuses!

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Do you ever find that life’s lessons come in the oddest of moments and methods?

Yesterday, after less than three hours of sleep (following a crazy intense last month of work), I was on a three hour journey that turned into over a six hour one.

I thought, booking my trip to see family this early in the winter, snow wouldn’t be much of an issue – think again, Charlene! (That picture is of the tarmac at the airport.)

On the last leg of my journey – what was supposed to be a quick 35 minute flight on a 19 seater plane – I thought, ‘Great! Perfect time to finally get some meditation in.’

You see, I’ve been so busy, running myself ragged trying to ‘get everything done’ before this trip (which didn’t happen) that I haven’t made time to meditate much.

(If anyone’s thinking of the story of the monk who didn’t have enough time to meditate for an hour, so was told to meditate for two – I know, I know.)

I’m fairly new to meditation; I’ve tried it off and on in the past, but I’ve recently learned more about it and have committed to give it a fair try.

I’m a pretty focused, driven person. I plan. I organize. I make lists and I’ve always had an inner desire to be perfect at the things I put on my plate, which, when I don’t live up to this desire, tends to make me feel a bit of a failure, or like I could have done more, better … you get the picture.

This is part of why I think meditation would be great for me – step out of my inner drive to make productive use of every minute of my day, relax, breathe, be still.

These things are wonderful. I’ve SEEN and EXPERIENCED how they’re wonderful in other ways. I keep getting delighted with how my focus on slowing down, on taking moments for joy, on letting myself NOT work until I burn myself out has changed me over the past few years.

But old habits die hard and all those personality traits I mentioned, all the reasons I should meditate, are also re
asons that make it very difficult for me to see the benefit of sitting and concentrating on ‘the sensation of the breath at my nostrils’ for 25-35 minutes when I could be doing this or that, or oh my gosh, THIS!

Okay. Back to that plane;

That plane that’s so small the average bus would make it blush, a plane that had sleet pelting the windows, whose propellers whirred to life … yet we weren’t moving, quieted, and we weren’t moving.

Then we moved, and we stopped, and suddenly an intense and disastrous sounding noise was at my window …

And I was supposed to be meditating. But I’d open my eyes. I’d look out the window (that noise was a man blasting a hose at the propellers – de-icing them I assume), and my heart would do a little flutter.

Then it hit me.

I’m letting myself be distracted. I’m letting myself worry – about the safety of the plane, about the family whose trip just overlapped mine and the fact that every minute I spent on that tarmac was stealing from the time I’d get to visit them, about whether I’d get to visit at all or if I’d die in a fiery crash.

But there was nothing I could do about any of it. I couldn’t control the snow, the ice, the decisions of the pilots to stay or leave. It was out of my control. All of it.

Unless I was about to unbuckle and scream like a madwoman until the flight attendant let me off the plane, which would only leave me stranded on a tarmac, all I could do was sit.

And once we were in the air, when the turbulence hit, then hit again, after a gut-reaction tremor, for the first time ever, I wasn’t afraid. If these were my last moments, why spend them worried?

It was out of my control.

Yeah.

And so I closed my eyes, I breathed, and I stopped worrying.

I learned something, something I’ve learned in the past, obviously, but that is always good to learn again.

Most of the time in life we can do what we can do, but then after that it’s out of our hands. Results are out of our hands.

I’m going to be honest, I’ve been worrying about this launch. I think the book is awesome and I want hundreds thousands of people to read it.

I want them to fall in love with the story as much as I have.

I also want sales, because bills have to be paid.

So I’ll do what I can do, but not at the expense of joy, of laughter. If everything isn’t perfect, that’s okay.

This email is coming a day later than I planned, no problem.

This isn’t what I intended to write about – oh well!

I’ve done the most important thing; I’ve written a book I’m proud of. It’s not perfect (what is?) but it’s beautiful, it’s real, and writing it has put something worth while into the world.

And so as far as worrying or stressing about the rest – Why bother? This email isn’t perfect. It’s probably too long, but it’s what’s in me to say. Some people will like it, some people won’t, and that’s out of my hands!

Weather … also so out of our hands, and what a beautiful result!

I would wrap this up here, but I told you in the last email I’d let you know about those pre-order bonuses.

Behind Our Lives releases December 8th and is available for 3.99USD and 2.99GBP.

Even though currency conversion says it should be higher, I personally find it hard to pay more than $5 for an ebook, so in Canada and Australia it’s $4.50.

If you order before the 8th, you’ll get some great (and exclusive) bonuses, and all you’ll have to do to access them is open to the book’s table of contents and click “Bonuses.”

Ready?

BONUS #1 – An Audiobook of Elixir Vitae

At just over 45 minutes, it’s the perfect length for your commute, a soak in the tub, or to make your next lengthy chore fly by!

But when her best friend begs her to go on a haunted Halloween singles tour, she reluctantly agrees.

The moon is full, the night is young, and Rachel, far beneath the walls of a historical fortress, finds herself on a journey she never could have imagined and hardly believes.

BONUS # 2 – Behind Our Lives, The Back Story

In the video, I grab a cup of tea and chat to you about some of the inspirations behind the book and the characters. I laughed, I cried, and I learned something new about my story. I think you’ll enjoy it!

(Just to let you know, clicking the video won’t take you to the video – at least until the next book is ready, this gem’s exclusively for those who pre-order! It’ll take you to a page where you can find a link to get the book. :D)

BONUS # 3 – An Awesome Giveaway!

The winner will receive a hard copy of the ‘reader’s choice’ pick from the books in the survey linked below, a paperback copy of Behind Our Lives, and a personally addressed and signed paperback copy of my novella, Before I Knew You. Want to give your input? Click the image below to go to the survey and vote on your top pick – don’t forget to hit SUBMIT so your vote counts! – then make sure you come back to order your copy of Behind Our Lives.*

(Save your preference and you’ll only have to pick once, after that the ‘link’ will remember your retailer.)

OR, if you want to learn a little more about the book and read some reviews from early readers, click the cover image above!

(* You don’t have to buy the book in order to enter the giveaway. I’ll post another way to enter it on Facebook and my website, but I won’t post that until at least ONE WEEK after Behind Our Lives releases so that those who pre-order will have a chance to get more entries.)

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